In conjunction with trucks and commercial vehicles, it is known that superstructures, which are to some extent adapted to the mobile use case, must be installed on the so-called vehicle chassis for the respective intended purpose. Such superstructures are connected to the vehicle frame, and in certain use cases, the main vehicle drive is also used as the drive for accessory functions of the unit, but these superstructures can occasionally also be operated independently of the vehicle. For example, trucks for bulk materials which have a receiving container for material are known, such that the receiving container is tilted about a tilt axle for unloading the bulk material, so that the bulk material runs out of the container by gravity. In this context, there are also known embodiments of trucks having a tilt axle running in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, sometimes even equipped with two tilt axles in order to be able to dump the bulk material on either side of the vehicle. The tilt axles running in the longitudinal direction are usually arranged as close as possible to the outside edge of the vehicle frame, so that it is possible to dump the load directly next to the vehicle.
So-called suction dredges are a special case of an application in the field of mobile work machines.
DE 38 37 670 A1 discloses such a suction dredge comprising a pneumatic suction blow pipe, a collecting container for the soil sucked into it with the suction blow pipe opening therein, and the soil from the suction air stream being deposited therein as well as a suction fan connected to the collecting container to generate the suction air stream. The additional conventional components of a suction dredge include guide elements for the suction blow pipe and filters for cleaning the suction air before it leaves the collecting container and is discharged to the surroundings. With the design of the suction dredge described in this document, a collecting tank which can be tilted about one of two tilt axes running in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle toward the respective side of the vehicle as an alternative to dump the material deposited in the collecting container. The tilting arrangement used for this corresponds largely to the design of dump trucks with tipping buckets. One disadvantage of such a design for tipping the collecting container at the side is that the material in the bucket then falls to the ground directly next to the vehicle and when large volumes of materials are involved, this may make it difficult to completely empty the material collecting container in just one tilting operation. Therefore, the vehicle must either be moved during the tilting process or the dumping of material must take place in an area at a lower level in order to be able to receive larger volumes of material in this way.
DE 10 2012 003 226 A1 discloses a tiltable container, in particular for suction dredges in which the tilt axle is arranged above the container bottom, preferably in the upper half of the container. To empty the container, it can first be raised by means of a hydraulic system and then shifted to the side so that the tilt axle is raised into an elevated position. Another linear drive then acts on the container to pivot it about the tilt axle. Before the emptying process, a cover placed on the container must be opened by means of its own hydraulic system and pivoted to the side to allow the container to be raised and tilted. The design of this suction dredge is complicated, high maintenance and expensive accordingly. Furthermore, the known suction dredge has the significant disadvantage that the container can be tilted to only one side of the vehicle, so that flexible use of the suction dredge is greatly restricted.
DE 28 11 186 A1 describes a transport container, which is arranged on a running gear and can be tilted by means of a tilting device transversely to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The two front end walls of the container are arranged so that each can be pivoted about a bearing journal. The bearing journal is connected to the upper ends of a trestle which has two pivot arms each pointing to a longitudinal axis of the running gear. The pivot arms are releasably connected to the running gear such that only the two pivot arms in the direction of which the container is to be emptied are connected to the running gear via bearing bolts while the two other pivot arms must be released manually from the running gear. Hydraulic working cylinders which are connected at the lower ends at the center of the transverse beam and at their upper end to a strap rigidly connecting the pivot arms are used to tilt the container. A circular disk on which a cable acts is arranged concentrically on the bearing journal.
With such known approaches to emptying a collecting tank, the movements for raising and tilting are necessarily separate from one another, thus resulting in a fixed movement sequence and a fixed tilting sequence. The height of tilting cannot be altered and the lateral tilting width is also fixed. For example, this results in the disadvantage that some of the bulk material will land on the vehicle chassis unless separator deflectors or guards are provided. Furthermore, conversion components must be designed manually to be tiltable on both sides.
Starting from the documents cited above, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved vehicle with a tiltable material collecting container which allows the material collecting container to be tilted to either side of the vehicle while at the same time permitting a position of the tilt axle, which is variable in height and about which it is possible to empty the material collecting container, even on an elevated surface, for example, another vehicle at the side, and it makes do with proven and robust drive elements.
These and other objects are achieved by a vehicle having the features according to the accompanying claim 1.